26 h. ago Yvette Cooper pauses new refugee family reunions in fresh asylum crackdown

Charities warn the changes will ‘push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers in an effort to reunite with loved ones’

Events

31 h. ago Afghanistan earthquake live: ‘There is death in every home’, families say, after at least 800 killed in quake in east of country

Several villages in Kunar province ‘completely destroyed’, says public health ministry, as rescue operations take placeMagnitude 6 earthquake hits eastern AfghanistanHow have you been affected by the earthquake?One resident in Afghanistan’s Nurgal district, one of the worst-affected areas in Kunar, said almost the entire village had collapsed under the force of the earthquake. “Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble,” the villager, who did not give his name, told the Associated Press.“We need help here,” he pleaded. “We need people to come here and join us. Let us pull out the people who are buried. There is no one who can come and remove dead bodies from under the rubble.” Continue reading...

Events

35 h. ago Afghanistan earthquake live: more than 800 dead after shallow quake strikes country’s east, state media reports

Several villages in Kunar province ‘completely destroyed’, says ministry for public health, as rescue operations take placeAt least 250 dead after 6.0 magnitude quake near JalalabadHow have you been affected by the earthquake in Afghanistan?One resident in Afghanistan’s Nurgal district, one of the worst-affected areas in Kunar, said almost the entire village had collapsed under the force of the earthquake. “Children are under the rubble. The elderly are under the rubble. Young people are under the rubble,” the villager, who did not give his name, told the Associated Press.“We need help here,” he pleaded. “We need people to come here and join us. Let us pull out the people who are buried. There is no one who can come and remove dead bodies from under the rubble.” Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Calls for 'hugely beneficial' Greater Manchester bus scheme to be extended as trial comes to an end

Disabled and elderly people have been able to travel on buses at any time of the day

Politics

6 d. ago Home Office planning to halve time asylum seekers given to find accommodation

Charities sound alarm over plan to give asylum seekers just 28 days to find new housing once they have a decision on their caseUK politics live – latest updatesRefugee charities warn that thousands of people in the UK could find themselves homeless on the streets this winter after the Home Office quietly reversed its asylum accommodation policy.The Guardian has learned that ministers are planning to halve the period asylum seekers are given to find new accommodation after getting a decision on their case, from 56 to 28 days. Refugee organisations say this is not enough time to find work and a home to rent and will lead to many people pitching tents in the streets. Continue reading...

Society

6 d. ago Charities raise alarm after Home Office reverses part of asylum accommodation policy

The Guardian has learned ministers are planning to halve the time asylum seekers are given to find new accommodation after getting a decision on their caseUK politics live – latest updatesRefugee charities warn that thousands of people in the UK could find themselves homeless on the streets this winter after the Home Office quietly reversed its asylum accommodation policy.The Guardian has learned that ministers are planning to halve the period asylum seekers are given to find new accommodation after getting a decision on their case, from 56 to 28 days. Refugee organisations say this is not enough time to find work and a home to rent and will lead to many people pitching tents in the streets. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago ‘Very sick and very tired’: the reality of famine for Gaza’s most vulnerable

Catastrophic hunger caused by aid blockade is most keenly felt by elderly people, the young and the destituteIn the overcrowded, rubble strewn streets of Gaza City, there was little surprise at the announcement that UN-backed experts believed the scenes of desperation could now be formally described as a famine.“This is something we have been saying for months now, and we have witnessed this and we have been living this and suffering this. We feel very powerless and very sick and very tired,” said Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGO Network, who has been in Gaza City throughout the 22-month war. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago The Thursday Murder Club review – Richard Osman bestseller provides solid, star

There’s much to enjoy in this adaptation of Osman’s ingenious book, with Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie and Pierce Brosnan as the senior-citizen X-MenRichard Osman’s phenomenal bestseller from 2020 was an ingenious, accessible, good-natured book, which helped rebrand the English detective novel as “cosy crime”, started a celeb-copycat publishing trend and, being about four elderly people in a retirement community rising above ageist condescension to solve crimes, spoke eloquently to the shut-in frustrations and escapist yearnings of the Covid age.Now it has been adapted as a funny and likable, if slightly bland, comedy-drama for Netflix, which as one character amusingly and pre-emptively comments, feels just like a Sunday teatime TV crime drama. There is nothing new about these nostalgist leanings: Agatha Christie has after all been a solid film and TV export for more than half a century. Screenwriters Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote adapt the novel and director Chris Colu...

Events

1 week ago I long to carpe diem! How can I be more present? | Leading questions

It’s worth asking not just how to seize the day but why exactly we’re not, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith writesRead more Leading questionsI long to carpe diem! I have a busy life, a loving partner and good friends but, despite looking forward to holidays or events, when I am in them I feel unable to relax and enjoy.I constantly think about work or my daughter or my elderly mum or, most dully, my pension. I know people notice. And it’s not just an obvious checking of my phone, I feel it’s a vacantness behind the eyes. How can I be more present? Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Mapped: Where in the UK are people most at risk from potentially deadly heatwave?

New analysis shows thousands of young children, hospital patients and elderly people at risk as UK hit by fourth heatwave of summer

Events

2 w. ago Mapped: Areas most at risk during deadly heatwaves as charity urges government to protect vulnerable

New analysis shows thousands of young children, hospital patients and elderly people at risk as UK hit by fourth heatwave of summer

Events

3 w. ago Elderly people being excluded from medical research in UK, charities warn

Exclusion of older people from research due to arbitrary age cut-offs could stall development of life-saving treatmentsPeople aged over 75 are being excluded from health research due to arbitrary age cut-offs, potentially stalling the development of life-saving treatments, leading charities and research institutes have warned.Some clinical studies restrict participation for older people due to concerns about the potential frailty of participants and a belief that age may reduce the effect of the drug or device being studied. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago DWP list of 48 conditions that can give you up to £5,740 a year

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued nearly 1.7 million elderly people with a non-means-tested, tax-free benefit - here are the 48 conditions that it supports

Economics

3 w. ago ‘We are diverse cultures come together’: the vision of harmony behind Manchester’s Caribbean carnival

Passionate elders of Leeward Islands People’s Association wanted to promote racial harmony – and inspired a tradition that is still going strong 55 years onThe Caribbean islands of St Kitts and Nevis are 4,000 miles from Greater Manchester and a fraction of the size. But the dual-island nation inspired a tradition in the English metropolis that is still going 55 years on – the annual carnival in Moss Side.Geraldine Walters, 79, a retired mental health nurse who was born in St Kitts, and her late husband, Rudolph, from Nevis, were on the very first organising committee from the Leeward Islands People’s Association (Lipa). Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago UK aid cuts will cause untold damage, wildlife charities warn – as they fear for future of key programmes

Nick Ferris talks to groups around Britain and Africa about the cost-cutting that is already taking place, and the difficult few years ahead

Events